A Slow Poison
by Iapetus
Summary: Yaone shouldn’t be helping Hwan, and she doesn’t know why she’s doing it.


A Slow Poison

A Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer: I in no way own Saiyuki, and never will.

Note: This was written for the LJ community 'springkink,' with the pairing requested being Hwan/Yaone. Well, it came out very subtle and there are more implications of other pairings, but the piece still works well.

Feedback in all forms is always appreciated.

* * *

Hwan wonders how he does it.

She knows of what is done in her lady's private chambers when the rest of the castle isn't looking. They forget that the walls are thin and youkai have good hearing, and that's one reason Hwan has never gone to give the evening report when her lady is not in her throne room with her beloved. Hwan has her pride and will not be whispered about.

Then there is the day that Nii plays around with one of his side projects, and an hour later twirls a capped test tube between his fingers. With a smile and a shuffle of his bunny slippers, he says that he's going to get more coffee.

When he comes back two hours later, the coffee is hot, and his posture is a fraction straighter. Hwan notices pink streaks growing on his lab coat, and smells jasmine perfume. Angry, she focuses on her computer screen and says nothing to him.

Such is the norm, though not usually in the middle of the day. Hwan rarely hods the individual events in her memory, for there are so _many_ that she loses count. That is what makes her angry.

A week later after the midday escapade, Hwan forgets about the vial. She is summoned by her lady to give the evening report, in her throne room. It is safe, she rationalizes, it isn't safe, she argues, but she goes anyways. She will not deny her lady.

Hwan tries not to imagine that her lady's kimono is opened a little more than usual, or that she can see more of the pale skin of her outer thighs. For a moment, when her lady looks at her, she swears she sees something _else_ besides interest in her beloved's progress and it makes Hwan's face flush. Her lady notices, and presses her crossed legs together tighter. Hwan gasps, and drops her clipboard on accident. The clip breaks, and her test results scatter across the floor. Her lady doesn't care anymore.

Hwan wonders how he does it.

That morning when she awakens, there are bite marks on her neck and breast that her normal apparel will not be able to hide. She needs something to keep her pride in place even if Nii will hear of tonight if he did not already know or would figure out during the day. This is not the time to wear marks of possession. Hwan wonders if there will ever be a right time, and almost wants to cry. She chooses anger instead, and uses a large rubber band to trap the test results to the broken clipboard.

* * *

Yaone shouldn't be helping Hwan, and she doesn't know why she's doing it. The others won't wonder where she is; Lirin is with her brother, and Doku is with the dragons. Her gloves have been discarded and her fingers are stained with ointment. Hwan says nothing as Yaone gently washes the dried blood away. It isn't often that her patients are so quiet. When she dips the cloth into her bowl of herbs again, Hwan speaks – staring straight ahead into the small mirror on Yaone's dresser. 

"Will you tell him?"

Yaone shakes her head. There are two Hims, and her answer is shared between them. "It is not my place to spread gossip." An ordinary subordinate's main job was to spread gossip.

Hwan knew that Yaone was far from ordinary. "It'll spread through the castle by the time the day's out," she says. Yaone knows this, but does not say that she does. Hwan's nails dig into her palms. "Why are you helping me?"

For a moment, she thinks. "My father once said that those who need the most help are those who get what they wanted, because we can't separate dreams from reality. In my village, I once sold a poison to a man who had a similar expression on his face that you had this morning. We found him dead in the river that evening."

"So I'm weak?" Hwan asks, angry.

"Going into that lab today as you are is different than taking any poison. You'll have to live with what he'll say."

"I know what he'll say."

"And yet you still went after what you wanted."

They are quiet as Yaone presses herbs into the cuts, and Hwan winces. If it were not for Yaone's expert touch, she is sure she would scream.

"Will you go back to her?" Yaone asks.

"How often will you return to your prince?" Hwan says. Yaone is quiet and doesn't look at Hwan in the mirror. It's then that Hwan notices a mark made almost invisible by makeup. "I won't tell the others."

"I can't trust that statement," Yaone responds.

"You don't want it to be a secret either, do you?"

"What you want isn't always what you get."

Then her back is finished, and Hwan slips on her lab coat. Yaone sets the bowl aside, and dries her hands on a dark towel that doesn't show the herbs' color. "I get up around 6 every morning unless my lord requests otherwise, Dr. Hwan. I often report to him by 8."

"Thank you."

This is not something Hwan will forget.


End file.
